Media Matters' war against Fox

This is pretty surprising and effectively undermines Media Matters as a useful watchdog (which frankly I thought they have been doing themselves given their partisan analytics) - though the fact that they are so brazen about it, is surprising.

The liberal group Media Matters has quietly transformed itself in preparation for what its founder, David Brock, described in an interview as an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel.

The group, launched as a more traditional media critic, has all but abandoned its monitoring of newspapers and other television networks and is narrowing its focus to Fox and a handful of conservative websites, which its leaders view as political organizations and the “nerve center” of the conservative movement. The shift reflects the centrality of the cable channel to the contemporary conservative movement, as well as the loathing it inspires among liberals — not least among the donors who fund Media Matters’ staff of about 90, who are arrayed in neat rows in a giant war room above Massachusetts Avenue.

“The strategy that we had had toward Fox was basically a strategy of containment,” said Brock, Media Matters’ chairman and founder and a former conservative journalist, adding that the group’s main aim had been to challenge the factual claims of the channel and to attempt to prevent them from reaching the mainstream media.

The new strategy, he said, is a “war on Fox.”

In an interview and a 2010 planning memo shared with POLITICO, Brock listed the fronts on which Media Matters — which he said is operating on a $10 million-plus annual budget — is working to chip away at Fox and its parent company, News Corp. They include its bread-and-butter distribution of embarrassing clips and attempts to rebut Fox points, as well as a series of under-the-radar tactics.

Media Matters, Brock said, is assembling opposition research files not only on Fox’s top executives but on a series of midlevel officials. It has hired an activist who has led a successful campaign to press advertisers to avoid Glenn Beck’s show. The group is assembling a legal team to help people who have clashed with Fox to file lawsuits for defamation, invasion of privacy or other causes. And it has hired two experienced reporters, Joe Strupp and Alexander Zaitchik, to dig into Fox’s operation to help assemble a book on the network, due out in 2012 from Vintage/Anchor. (In the interest of full disclosure, Media Matters last month also issued a report criticizing “Fox and Friends” co-host Steve Doocy’s criticism of this reporter’s blog.)

riddler78 saidMedia Matters, Brock said, is assembling opposition research files not only on Fox’s top executives but on a series of midlevel officials. It has hired an activist who has led a successful campaign to press advertisers to avoid Glenn Beck’s show. The group is assembling a legal team to help people who have clashed with Fox to file lawsuits for defamation, invasion of privacy or other causes. And it has hired two experienced reporters, Joe Strupp and Alexander Zaitchik, to dig into Fox’s operation to help assemble a book on the network, due out in 2012 from Vintage/Anchor. (In the interest of full disclosure, Media Matters last month also issued a report criticizing “Fox and Friends” co-host Steve Doocy’s criticism of this reporter’s blog.)

Well this is great! If FOX can attack and undermine all gay & Liberal outlets, and individuals, let's return the favor! YAY!!!

Thanks, I look forward to posting their stuff here, to offsetting your own anti-gay propaganda! Again, YAY for truth and gay interests!!!

Well, once all the lawsuits start rolling in, it does keep the lawyers fed rather well. ;)

And gas is going up regardless of anything else (save for an aggressive resource extraction program by our leading energy corporations if such can be undertaken with a minimum amount of federal meddling and taxation).

And Media Matters seeks to squelch media that is not slanted far to the left.

Though this has less to do with Soros the Sinister Schnook's personal politics than it does with his goal of accelerating America's economic demise to his own enrichment.

If he is willing to sell out his own people (Hungarian Jews under Nazi occupation), for economic gain (to say nothing of escaping the lot of many of his fellow Jews) he will not even blink an eye at destroying a free nation with which he has little connection other than a sometime generator of wealth.

alphatrigger saidWell, once all the lawsuits start rolling in, it does keep the lawyers fed rather well. ;)

And gas is going up regardless of anything else (save for an aggressive resource extraction program by our leading energy corporations if such can be undertaken with a minimum amount of federal meddling and taxation).

And Media Matters seeks to squelch media that is not slanted far to the left.

Though this has less to do with Soros the Sinister Schnook's personal politics than it does with his goal of accelerating America's economic demise to his own enrichment.

If he is willing to sell out his own people (Hungarian Jews under Nazi occupation), for economic gain (to say nothing of escaping the lot of many of his fellow Jews) he will not even blink an eye at destroying a free nation with which he has little connection other than a sometime generator of wealth.

Alpha -

There is not a single true thing in your entire post. Fox is not "slanted to the right", it is a media arm of the Republican party.

And Soros made his first gift to Media Matters in 2010 and the other stuff you've written about him, is not only untrue, but is part of a large anti-Semitic meme being pushed by Glenn Beck and white supremacists.

As an aside, I don't even particularly like FOX News (I scan a number of specialized journals and sites, and despite my general distaste for publicly funded journalism, I do like the BBC's coverage of things, even if it does have a slight leftward bias).

There is not a single true thing in your entire post. Fox is not "slanted to the right", it is a media arm of the Republican party.

And Soros made his first gift to Media Matters in 2010 and the other stuff you've written about him, is not only untrue, but is part of a large anti-Semitic meme being pushed by Glenn Beck and white supremacists.

Say whaaaat?

Soros is Jewish. He worked for an organization set-up for Jews in Hungary by the Nazi occupiers to keep the common Hungarian Jews in line, often delivering "deportation slips" which would result in the deportation of the named Jewish family, and confiscation of their property by the Nazis.

He later escaped with an unrelated Hungarian official bribed by Soros's father, where he posed as a Christian to escape Nazi-occupied Hungary.

This is not "anti-semitic propaganda", but admitted truth by the man himself on an interview on 60 Minutes:

There is not a single true thing in your entire post. Fox is not "slanted to the right", it is a media arm of the Republican party.

And Soros made his first gift to Media Matters in 2010 and the other stuff you've written about him, is not only untrue, but is part of a large anti-Semitic meme being pushed by Glenn Beck and white supremacists.

Say whaaaat?

Soros is Jewish. He worked for an organization set-up for Jews in Hungary by the Nazi occupiers to keep the common Hungarian Jews in line, often delivering "deportation slips" which would result in the deportation of the named Jewish family, and confiscation of their property by the Nazis.

He later escaped with an unrelated Hungarian official bribed by Soros's father, where he posed as a Christian to escape Nazi-occupied Hungary.

This is not "anti-semitic propaganda", but admitted truth by the man himself on an interview on 60 Minutes:

Reckon that some benefit of the doubt could be given... but the sort of cold rationalization skill learned at that age did not necessarily temper him into a great humanitarian (except of course, where it intersects his own selfish interests).

I am not unconvinced that he is engaged in an agenda to destroy the United States as a free republic (to replaced with something on the failing Euro-socialist model).

The way it works is - aside from a few self-selected hyper-wealthy elites - everyone else should be equalized at barely above subsistence levels of poverty.

Sort of like Lord Tim's past of being one of the few humans in charge of so many thousands of serfs and peasants.

Has it become "liberal" to search out the truth behind what we are being told by our media, our politicians and our government ? Riddler writes of Media Matters as being at war ?? They are liberal? WHAT ???

Is it not conservative to seek the truth? Is it not good to be liberal with the truth ? Shouldn't we all want that ? Media Matters goes after those who seem contrary to the truth, apparently Fox has a truth telling problem or they wouldn't find themselves mentioned so much by Media Matters. This should make Riddler and others think twice about getting their "facts" from such sources as FOX.

Always notice that Media Matters goes to great lengths to prove their statements and provide detailed backing/sources. I am so glad we have a Media Matters to expose truth, because the big three or four Media operations in addition to FOX have a truth telling deficit.

realifedad said Has it become "liberal" to search out the truth behind what we are being told by our media, our politicians and our government ? Riddler writes of Media Matters as being at war ?? They are liberal? WHAT ???

Is it not conservative to seek the truth? Is it not good to be liberal with the truth ? Shouldn't we all want that ? Media Matters goes after those who seem contrary to the truth, apparently Fox has a truth telling problem or they wouldn't find themselves mentioned so much by Media Matters. This should make Riddler and others think twice about getting their "facts" from such sources as FOX.

Always notice that Media Matters goes to great lengths to prove their statements and provide detailed backing/sources. I am so glad we have a Media Matters to expose truth, because the big three or four Media operations in addition to FOX have a truth telling deficit.

Christian73 saidFox is not "slanted to the right", it is a media arm of the Republican party.

When Rupert Murdoch acquired Fox News, the first policy change was to fire all Fox News employees who were registered Democrats.

Fox News: We are certainly not Fair nor Balanced, our goal is to defeat Obama in 2012 and elect a Republican. We will strive to portray Obama in the worst possible light in every story he is in, and this includes "straight" news stories.

Christian73 saidFox is not "slanted to the right", it is a media arm of the Republican party.

When Rupert Murdoch acquired Fox News, the first policy change was to fire all Fox News employees who were registered Democrats.

Fox News: We are certainly not Fair nor Balanced, our goal is to defeat Obama in 2012 and elect a Republican. We will strive to portray Obama in the worst possible light in every story he is in, and this includes "straight" news stories.

Amen, brother.

It will be very interesting to see how Fox behaves if one of it's EMPLOYEES becomes the Repub 2012 nominee!One of their current employees, Mike Huckabee, is the front runner for the nomination.Talk about a CONFLICT OF INTEREST.It will REEK of corruption.